As we’ve guessed in our story about the electrification of the next-gen Juke and Qashqai, the 2018 Nissan Leaf will get a 60 kWh battery similar to the pack that equips the Nissan IDS Concept. Believe it or not, our guess was right. Speaking to Autoblog Green, Nissan global director of EV and HEV engineering assured that a 60 kWh electric vehicle is coming. “I'm sorry I cannot say when," he declared on the sidelines of EVS29, an electric vehicle symposium that’s happening in Canada as we speak.
The image above is a snapshot taken at the 3:44 mark of the video embedded below. Looks closely and you’ll see that the Nissan High Energy Density Roadmap has three variables: Competitor A (60 ~ 80 kWh), 60 kWh Prototype, and Competitor B, C, D (20 ~ 24 kWH). The Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla Model 3 fit the bill for A, while the Renault Zoe slots in the lower spectrum of the EV game due to its 22 kWh battery.
Be that as it may, the illustration provides the confirmation we’ve been expecting: the 60 kWh pack from the IDS Concept will be in the new Leaf. The best the 2016 Nissan Leaf with the 30 kWh battery can do is 107 miles (172 km) according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Supposing that double the capacity equals double the range, then the 2018 Nissan Lean is, in theory, capable of traveling 214 miles (344 km) on a full charge. However, pricing and styling will be crucial to the success of the next iteration of the Leaf.
Dear Nissan, if you want sales to take off, then please, for the love of God, don’t make the second-gen Leaf look like a frog. Secondly, do please price it at under $35,000 sans the $7,500 tax credit if you want to have a winning chance against the Tesla Model 3. If, however, the Japanese automaker will ruin either of these variables, then the electrified variants of the next-gen Juke and Qashqai will take it over from the Leaf
